Now, for nationals. Claiming a conference crown was nice, but the ultimate aim of the 23rd-ranked Seattle Pacific University women’s cross country team is to run at the NCAA Championships. And to get there, the Falcons must take care of business Saturday (Nov. 8) at the West Regional in Chino, Ca. The top three teams advance to the Division II championships Nov. 22 in Raleigh, N.C.

West determines best. Coach Doris Heritage will take a team of seven women plus Tim LeCount (So., Battle Ground, Wa.) to southern California. There the women will run a 6000-meter race while the men are extended to 10k for only the second time this fall. To qualify for nationals as an individual, a runner must be among the top two finishers from a non-qualifying team or among the top five overall. Based on the latest national and regional rankings, Chico State, UC San Diego and SPU are the favorites to earn NCAA berths for the women.

Return to normalcy. Seattle Pacific is back in the thick of the West race following two years of being a non-factor. The Falcons earned six consecutive trips to the NCAA Championships from 1994-99 and they have sent full teams a total of 10 times since 1983. SPU finished as high as third nationally in 1983 and ‘86. The conference championship this season is the seventh overall but the first since 1999. Only three harriers have been to the regional stage previously. LeCount ran eighth in the 2002 men’s event at Fresno. Jamie Witt (Jr., Folsom, Ca.) and Kirsten Bjork (Sr., Olympia, Wa./Black Hills) were participants in 2000 and ‘01.

Leaders of the pack. At the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships Oct. 25, Heritage got both a strong 1-2 punch from Josie Lavin (Jr., Bremerton, Wa.) and Witt, and some quality performances from the rest of her squad to hold off Alaska Anchorage by 15 points (62-77). Lavin overtook Witt in the final 400 meters to win the individual title in a time of 21 minutes, 42 seconds. She joins Rachel Ross (1998, ‘00, ‘01) and Heather Wallace (1996, ‘97, ‘99) as Seattle Pacific’s conference champions. Witt, who led virtually the entire race, was runner-up in 21:56. The men’s team was eighth for the second year in a row. LeCount was on the rebound from illness and finished 18th–his second-lowest placement of the season–in 25:52.

It’s academic. The Falcons led all schools with 10 individuals on the academic all-GNAC team. The women have six representatives: Witt, Bjork, Hillary Tayet (So., Lakewood, Wa./Cascade Christian), Ruth Harbaugh (So., 3.69, Gig Harbor, Wa.), Abby Groth (So., Roseburg, Or./Glide) and Becky Knox (So., Denver, Co./Denver Christian). The men’s selections are LeCount, Paul Mach (Sr., 3.73, Seattle, Wa./King’s), Clint Bjella (Jr., 3.51, Everett, Wa./Everett) and Aaron Libadisos (Jr., Kailua-Kona, Hi./Kealakehe). It’s the third selection for both Mach and Bjork, the second for Bjella, Libadisos and Witt.

Men's Team Scores: 1-Western Washington 61, 2-Alaska Anchorage 77, 3-Western Oregon 79, 4-Humboldt State 96, 5-Saint Martin's 154, 6-Seattle 157, 7-Central Washington 174, 8-Seattle Pacific 183, 9-Northwest Nazarene 194, 10-Alaska Fairbanks 257.
All-Conference (8,000 Meters): 1-Doug Hamilton, HSU, 24:59.53; 2-Chase Wells, WOU, 25:01.81; 3-Andy Prentice, SMC, 25:04.60; 4-Brian Brancheau, WWU, 25:07.05; 5-Steve DeKoker, WWU, 25:16.93; 6-Brad Brolin, WOU, 25:17.64; 7-Kurt Hartmaier, WWU, 25:30.35; 8-Jake Hotchkiss, NNU, 25:31.50; 9-Brandon Stum, UAA, 25:32.94; 10-Tris O'Bluck, SMC, 25:34.21.
Other SPU scorers: 31-Paul Mach, 26:27; 32-Bjorn Bostrom, 26:30; 45-Aaron Libadisos, 27:09; 60-Eddie Strickler, 27:42.

Women's Team Scores: 1-Seattle Pacific 62, 2-Alaska Anchorage 77, 3-Central Washington 88, 4-Western Washington 113, 5-Alaska Fairbanks 135, 6-Western Oregon 147, 7-Seattle 152, 8-Humboldt State 205, 9-Northwest Nazarene 210, 10-Saint Martin's 255.
All-Conference (6,000 Meters): 1-Josie Lavin, SPU, 21:42.84; 2-Jamie Witt, SPU, 21:56.19; 3-Laura Trevellyan, WWU, 21:57.77; 4-Sigrid Aas, UAF, 22:04.02; 5-Mandy Kaempf, UAA, 22:14.79; 6-Nicole Campbell, HSU, 22:15.71; 7-Kristie Rice, SU, 22:28.12; 8-Sarah Hansen, UAA, 22:31.35; 9-Stacy Edwards, UAA, 22:32.91; 10-Alicen Maier, CWU, 22:37.25.
Other SPU scorers: 15- Abby Groth, 23:08; 19-Summer Huntington, 23:14 ); 25-Ruth Harbaugh , 23:21.

Coaching staff. Coach Doris Heritage (25th year) has guided the SPU women to 10 top-10 national finishes and conference titles in six of the last nine years. In 1996 the Falcons won the West Region and her teams finished as high as second in the AIAW (1979, '80) and third in the NCAA (1983, '86) championships. Nineteen harriers have been All-America, including two national champions. The world's premier distance runner of the Sixties, she won five consecutive world cross country titles from 1967-71, and was a member of the 1968 and '72 U.S. Olympic teams. Heritage has coached the U.S. world cross country championship team, served as an assistant at many international meets, including the 1988 Olympics, and is a six-time women's conference coach of the year at SPU. In July of 2002 she was inducted into the National Distance Running Hall of Fame. Heritage was already a member of the U.S. Track & Field and U.S. Track Coaches halls of fame. Assisting Heritage as coaches again this season will be Erika (Botha) Daligcon and Lane Seeley. Daligcon ran for the Falcons from 1995-96. Seeley is a physics professor at Seattle Pacific.

Missing links. For the latest and best information on Seattle Pacific University athletics, stay where you're at -- on The Falcons Online. For updated standings and statistics, see the Great Northwest Athletic Conference web site.